Oregon’s Helfrich eyes November 1 showdown against Stanford

The Cardinal won the Pac-12 championship each of the past two years, but the Ducks – with Marcus Mariota returning at quarterback – are a popular choice to ascend the throne. Oregon was tapped to win the conference title in the annual preseason media poll released Wednesday.

The Ducks received 37 of 39 possible votes to win the North Division (Stanford got the other two) and 24 of 39 votes to win the Pac-12 title game. UCLA was an overwhelming choice to win the South.

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, after speaking openly of his hatred for North rivals Oregon State and Washington, acknowledged special motivation against another opponent.

“The Stanford element has been fun at times and competitive at all times,” Helfrich said. “They’ve gotten us the last two years, so we need to do something about that.”

Helfrich, who didn’t seem thrilled to land in the favorite’s role, expects Stanford to offer vigorous resistance.

“They’ll be really good,” Helfrich said of the Cardinal. “And I think David Shaw has rigged the first-place voting – I think they have a Stanford engineer in the background rigging the voting.”

Stanford finished second in the North in the media poll, followed by Washington, Oregon State, Washington State and Cal. Shaw, quarterback Kevin Hogan and safety Jordan Richards will meet the media Thursday.